"Bye Mama~" Xiao Ai called out, not in the least concerned for her safety.
Aida waved to the others as she disappeared into the distance. Aida's decision to split up was to continue to grow and improve herself. It was too comfortable staying with the rest of the group and she wasn't able to push herself at all.
The others in the group realized this too and began increasing their pace of fighting as well. They knew that they were holding Aida back, so all they could do was continue chasing after her until they caught up. They would also have to be more strategic with the way they fought now that Little White was no longer there to ward off the Enraged.
The reason she took Little White was because he was the only one that came close to matching her abilities in combat. If Rose was a prodigy in controlling abilities, then Little White was a combat prodigy.
It hadn't been very obvious to the others so far since they hadn't seen Little White fight, but Aida had noticed. Every angle the Little White came at when he acted was a fatal hit and in a person's blind spot no less, and he was able to do all this purely on instinct. If he continued training and learning from Aida, he would become a class S fighter in no time.
Stopping nearby, Aida hotwired a white 911 Porsche. Sitting in the car, they zoomed off while driving on the sidewalk, pulling as many Reapers as they could along with them. Soon, there was a whole group of Reapers chasing after them, throwing different abilities towards the car. Once they reached the outskirts, Aida abruptly halted the car with a loud screech and got out.
Licking her lips, she turned to Little White. "Are you ready for this?"
Little White didn't respond, but stared at the crowd charging towards them with interest instead.
"..." Aida didn't know what to say. Little White just messed up this picture perfect moment where the protagonists got to look cool!
Shrugging her shoulders in helplessness, she went into her nothingness state as her eyes turned red and propelled herself into the crowd. The density of the Reapers was so thick that she practically disappeared.
Hours later, Little White and Aida were lying on the floor panting. They were both covered in blood from head to toe. Aida had accumulated numerous injuries throughout the process of fighting the Reapers, but she was fortunate that her blood allowed her to heal immediately in return for draining some energy. Little White didn't have the same healing ability, but he quickly threw a few gems in his mouth and the wounds began to heal at a visible speed.
The worst injury they collectively received was a fist-sized rock that lodged itself into Aida's spine. It was a gruesome sight that would surely have caused the kids to cry if they saw it. If it were anyone else, they would've been paralyzed for life. For Aida, all she had to do was cut the rock out and clean the area. Her blood would be able to take over from there and patch up the area. Because Little White wasn't fully able to comprehend instructions, Aida had to pull the rock out on her own. The process of removing the rock without anesthesia was an extremely painful one, yet Aida didn't flinch at all.
After resting on the ground for a bit, they got up and hopped back into the now red Porsche that no longer had a windshield. Instead of driving back to the RV, Aida and Little White stopped by the residential area instead to take a quick shower and change out of their bloodied clothes.
Only after they showered did Aida do a wide area scan and drive towards the RV. Before she could, Little White tugged on her shirt, keeping her from driving. She looked towards Little White who gazed at her indifferently and pointed to her eyes. The reminder made her realize that she still had her nothingness state on, her eyes had long turned blood red from all the killing and her bloodthirsty nature created an almost tangible aura around her.
Aida shot Little White a small smile that looked extremely sinister before closing her eyes. It seems Little White was growing smarter at a fairly fast rate. Perhaps he would soon be able to remember his past and everything else as well!
She sat there for a full 5 minutes as the aura slowly receded and her eyes turned back to normal. Throwing Little White another lopsided grin, she now looked beautiful and seductive instead of evil. She ruffled his hair and drove off towards their teammates, not at all noticing that Little White seemed to have been stunned by her casual smile and was frozen for the rest of the trip.
If Xiao Ai were here, she would surely scold her Mama for stunning innocent people with her rare but beautiful smile. Her Mama's smile should be for her and only her! But… she supposed it was possible to share it with her new family... maybe… That would be a discussion for another time.
The rest of the group continued to increase the number of Reapers they fought. The situation had grown significantly more challenging since they no longer had Little White to shelter them from the Enraged. Instead, they chose to fight in the city's giant stadium where the noise would be more contained and prevent too many infected from coming at them.
When Aida reached the group, they were still fighting a group of Reapers. Aida reluctantly said goodbye to the 911 Porsche that was covered in blood. She had always hoped to obtain her own sports car but never had the chance to before the outbreak.
Little White and Aida casually went to the stands and sat there as spectators as the group finished off this set of infected.